Chapter 355

At the same time, he gestured with his chin toward Hector.

It meant that if he wanted to finish quickly, he should go and teach her a bit.

And that was the wish of not only Hector and Vulcan but everyone in this place.

…In fact, even Harden in the Principal’s office was watching, wondering what on earth they were doing.

Hector sweated as he walked over to Demona.

“Huh? Hector, why are you coming over here? The match isn’t over yet.”

“Shut up and listen. The spiritual beasts you can see in fields are…”

Hector whispered the names of three spiritual beasts into Demona’s ear.

At that, Demona suddenly flew into a rage.

“Hey! Do you think I’d fall for such deceptive tactics?!”

“““??????”””

“And even if that were the correct answer, do you think I’m the type to get by on someone else’s sympathy? I am a Wicronon!”

It seemed Demona thought Hector had given her the answer out of pity.

She was only half right.

Because the one Hector pitied was not Demona, but himself for having to endure this.

At that moment, Vulcan asked Demona,

“What did Pabilto say to make you react like that?”

Demona answered nonchalantly,

“He said it was Grass Leaf Cat, Wildflower Chicken, and Dew Butterfly?”

“Correct. Wicronon, attack.”

“???”

Demona asked with wide eyes, looking at Hector,

“It was the correct answer?”

“…What do you take me for, you absolute heretic.”

At any rate, once they acquired the turn to attack, Banjjak flew over on its own accord without even being ordered by Demona, and bumped Eongeong-ie with its horn.

Eong-eong-eong─

In truth, it was not that strong of an attack, but Eongeong-ie, being a clever divine beast, tactfully played up the pain and flew far away.

And the Black Knight next to Demona,

Hop─! Thud, thud, thud──!!!

“Ah! Black Knight, why are you suddenly acting like this! I didn’t tell you to attack~”

It had leapt up out of nowhere and started beating Demona.

Vulcan nodded.

“Well, it doesn’t matter. Wicronon wins.”

“Professooor!”

Demona cried out desperately to Vulcan as she ran here and there to escape the Black Knight.

At the suddenly thrilling turn of events, the students woke up one by one and cheered.

─ Whoa! This is what a Holy War is about!

─ As expected of Wicronon!

Roan looked at them dubiously.

‘The Holy War is already over though…?’

Roan seriously wondered what on earth the students thought of Demona.

* * *

Not long after, all the other students’ matches came to an end.

Vulcan finally called the last matchup.

“Darc! Let’s wrap this up now!”

It was indeed the match between Roan and Denver.

In truth, there was no need to do it since Roan’s perfect score was already secured, but Vulcan seemed to want to conclude it perfectly.

“Yes.”

Since he had already known about it, Roan calmly rose and headed to the arena.

Denver, who had been asking questions from the referee’s stand, also stood up with a confident expression.

“Haha, it won’t be easy this time, Roan!”

‘Is there something?’

He had an inkling of what it might be.

Since it was a structure where they had to answer quizzes to get turns to attack, Denver probably thought he had something to show as a fourth-year.

But even so, being that triumphant was a bit…

Immediately, the students began to whisper among themselves at the sight of Denver.

─ Senior Denver looks confident, doesn’t he?

─ But didn’t he lose to Darc once last time?

─ And with two regular-class medium-sized spiritual beasts on top of that…

It would be different if they had fought on equal terms in the previous duel, but because he had been unilaterally pushed back by Roan, they were even more skeptical.

Roan’s prediction was almost exactly correct.

Denver harbored a confidence befitting it underneath his bright smile.

‘The professor said he prepared questions that are practically fourth-year level for this match.’

Denver also admitted it.

Roan was absolutely not the style of player who simply obtained good divine beasts and pushed through by weight class.

No matter how excellent a divine beast was, without the strategy and management skills to match, it would all be in vain.

Moreover, although his knowledge of Holy Wars—from Roan’s perspective, ‘knowledge of divine and spiritual beasts’—was also extraordinary,

‘Still, how could he possibly know fourth-year level questions!’

No matter how amazing Roan was, he couldn’t possibly know material he hadn’t even learned.

Well, unless someone was teaching him in his dreams, that is.

…However, Denver had no idea that Roan had listened to the fourth-year curriculum hundreds of times already.

At any rate, although he didn’t show it after that wretched defeat last time, Denver’s pride had been slightly wounded.

Of course, he wasn’t narrow-minded enough to harbor personal grudges over losing to a freshman.

But as the captain of the Holy War Club, didn’t he have face to maintain in front of his juniors?

‘I will properly avenge myself in this match!’

Meanwhile, Roan let out a small sigh at Denver’s inner thoughts, which seemed to grow increasingly transparent.

‘Well, I get the gist of it, but isn’t it a bit unsightly for a fourth-year to struggle so hard just to beat a freshman?’

Hearing those thoughts, the False Divinity vibrated.

Woong─

[Then how about you display the virtue of a gentleman and let him win?]

‘I can’t do that.’

Roan cut off the authority’s suggestion like a knife.

The False Divinity clicked its tongue as if to say ‘see?’

‘It’s not necessarily just because of me.’

[Then?]

‘Bel, can you bring yourself to purposely lose to someone?’

Roan asked, stroking Bel who was riding on his shoulder.

[─ Of course not!]

Bel thought it was absolute nonsense and took off like an arrow.

Kroooaaar──!!!

And it let out a roar that had become significantly rougher than before, in contrast to its still cute appearance.

The students gasped in awe at Bel’s tremendous stage presence (?).

─ Waaaaah!

─ Yongyong-ie! You’re the best!!!

─ I hate Darc, but I love you!!!

‘…Did they really have to add that they hate me?’

By now, it wasn’t even awkward to see the students constantly trying to criticize him even in the midst of this.

Roan and Denver faced each other across the arena.

“I look forward to a good match, Senior.”

“Yes, me too, guest member.”

Denver smiled as if he had already won.

‘The one thing you must absolutely never do in “God & Devil” is count your chickens before they hatch.’

Roan found that sight highly pitiful.

How could a fourth-year on the verge of graduation not know such a simple truth?

When Roan first gained confidence in his skills, he also often thought things like, ‘Wow, this is a guaranteed clear,’ or ‘How could I not beat this?’

But each time, what returned was a wretched failure.

On the contrary, the results were better when he struggled desperately, thinking, ‘Is this even possible?’

Meanwhile, Vulcan, who took Denver’s place on the referee’s stand, read the script with a frown.

“Now, we shall begin. Bring out your participants.”

“Bel.”

[─ Leave it to me!]

Roan sent Bel out without much deliberation.

Normally, he would have been a bit reluctant because Bel used black magic, but now he had to test the Void through the Rally of Sworn Allies, and Bel itself was incredibly enthusiastic.

“Bill!”

Denver called out to Bill, the Thunder Beak Bird, in a confident voice.

Although the size difference was still immense, due to the results of the previous duel, their presences were almost equal.

And the long-awaited fourth-year level question, specially prepared by Vulcan, was read.

“In the central-eastern part of the Empire, there is a reserve known to host many rare spiritual beasts called the ‘Gelun Wetlands.’ However, there have been successive pointings-out that the reserve’s ecology is being destroyed due to the recent expansion of the Taber Merchant Group nearby. Describe the members and specific traits of the food chain in the Gelun Wetlands, and briefly develop a logic on how to achieve harmony between development and conservation.”

─ …????

However, the students tilted their heads at the lengthy question, which was on an entirely different level from the freshmen’s test just now.

─ Hey, what did the professor just say?

─ Something about conservation?

─ Who is describing what?

Unlike the previous short-answer questions, it was a descriptive format from the start.

Furthermore, because they had to answer orally rather than writing on paper, most didn’t even dare to speak.

Meanwhile, Denver smiled upon hearing Vulcan’s question.

“Huhuhu… My, Professor.”

No matter how much Darc stood out, wasn’t this far too much of a biased progression?

The conflict between the Gelun Wetlands and the Taber Merchant Group had occurred some time ago.

Moreover, scholars of divine and spiritual beasts also held a great interest in it, so Denver had indeed learned about it in the second semester of his third year, which he had just completed.

To think he would ask such a question!

‘In a situation like this, it would be fine to give the junior a chance to answer first.’

No matter how amazing Roan was, it would take him some time just to think of the answer this time.

Denver looked at Roan with those thoughts.

Raise─

“?”

However, Roan had already raised his hand.

Flustered, Denver hastily called out to him.

“W-Wait, hold on, Darc!”

Roan reacted as if asking why he was calling out so suddenly.

“What is it, Senior?”

“Are you trying to say the answer now?”

“Yes.”

Roan tilted his head.

Why else would he have raised his hand?

Since Roan replied so nonchalantly, it was Denver who was flustered instead.

“You heard exactly what the question was, right?”

“Describing the food chain and representative spiritual beasts of the Gelun Wetlands, and the solution to the Taber Merchant Group’s development issues. Is that not it?”

Faced with a truly perfect summary, Denver was left completely speechless.

A freshman really listened to that and understood all of it in one go?

Meanwhile, having finished his reply, Roan looked at Denver suspiciously.

‘Did he perhaps not hear the whole question?’

Of course, no matter how much the Holy War Club focused on combat rather than studying, that was strictly ‘relatively speaking.’

In the elite Holy War Club within Acherandir, it was difficult to maintain one’s membership if one neglected studies.

If that was really the case, it would be a bit disappointing.

Noticing Roan’s misunderstanding, Denver jumped.

“What! Of course I know all of it!”

“Then why… Ah.”

Roan was about to ask, ‘Then why didn’t you raise your hand if you knew,’ but after realizing something, he nodded.

‘Indeed, I must have thought too much by my own standards.’

Roan was also aware that he knew this world considerably well.

Woong…

[Considerably…?]

Someone might not agree with those words, but at least that was what he thought.

At any rate, since it was indeed a fairly difficult question, it wasn’t strange even if one couldn’t answer immediately despite understanding the question.

How could a graduating fourth-year be outstanding in everything?

Looking at Roan’s expression that seemed to say ‘I understand everything,’ Denver felt his pride wounded for some reason.

‘Fine, let’s see if you can even answer it properly!’

And so, he decided to wait for Roan’s answer for now.

He seemed to know the question reasonably well, but it would be difficult to provide a meaningful answer to a conundrum where even scholars held divided opinions…

“First, in the case of the Gelun Wetlands, a characteristic is that the ecosystem is significantly different from other wetland terrains. Unlike other wetlands, which are primarily centered around amphibians, bird and insect species hold a dominant position in the Gelun Wetlands. For example…”

“…?!?!!!!”

He had thought that, but…

Roan began to rattle off the answer as if delivering a lecture he had already prepared, defying everyone’s expectations.

“Mmh…”

Judging by how Vulcan listened in silence, the content didn’t seem to be wrong either.

Having finished his explanation of the Gelun Wetlands, Roan caught his breath and asked,

“Was it too brief?”

Vulcan asked back, seemingly flustered,

“Brief?”

The students showed similar reactions.

─ Hey, what did Darc just say? I fell asleep without realizing it.

─ Ah, I couldn’t hear either. Sorry.

─ I heard it! He said it was brief.

─ Oh, you are a real ace.

If that was considered brief, an encyclopedia could be called a three-line summary.